John Horgan: Santa Clara University Draws a Line in the Sand

By John Horgan

San Mateo County Times

Posted:
10/15/2013 06:12:20 PM PDT

Updated:
10/15/2013 06:12:22 PM PDT

A controversy that has erupted at Santa Clara University over the sensitive issue of health insurance coverage for elective abortions is one more in a series of challenges which have vexed American Catholic institutions of higher learning.

The president of Santa Clara, a respected Jesuit school of long standing in Silicon Valley, has determined that the university's health insurance plan would not include coverage for elective abortions for faculty and staff.

There has been a fairly loud protest from some, but certainly not all, on (and off) the campus. But it begs the question: If a Catholic school can't, or won't, adhere to the Church's firm tenets regarding the basic life and death issue of abortion, what's the point of remaining a Catholic school at all?

Abortion, especially elective abortion, is regarded by the Church as an abomination, a pox, a sin. Santa Clara is not a secular outfit; it is not San Jose State University or the College of San Mateo. Santa Clara is not supposed to bend in the wind.

Santa Clara, which was founded in the mid-19th century, prides itself on being part and parcel of the Jesuit tradition, a deeply religious and philosophical lineage that goes all the way back to the iconic Spanish saint, Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the order more than 500 years ago.

We can argue about the moral underpinnings and validity of the Church's current positions on such matters as contraception, gay marriage and illegal immigration, among other important issues of the day.

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But abortion bears on the very fiber of what it means to be a Catholic. Since 1973, it is estimated that there have been 50 million legal abortions in the U.S. Abortion in this country is not an occasional medical procedure. It is routine.

For those who adhere to the Church's position on the subject, the sheer prevalence of abortion has become a sad commentary on American life.

For the Church and its followers, life, as defined by the faith's authorities, is sacred and worthy of protection and preservation. If a purportedly Catholic institution (like Santa Clara) chooses to ignore that strong stance, the entity winds up being irrelevant within the Catholic community.

At some point in the debate about how truly "Catholic" a Catholic institution has to be to remain so, it has to take a stand on what it actually believes. Santa Clara is at that juncture now.

If the school goes wobbly and fudges on the elective abortion/health insurance question, it becomes no different from all the rest in the ever-shifting secular culture at large.

You don't have to agree with what Santa Clara is doing on this issue (and many surely don't) but, at the very least, you can admire it for its consistency and devotion to principle.

To cave in and abandon a bedrock moral and ethical position of such importance would be a fatal decision and precisely the wrong message to send.

The debate involving elective abortion/health insurance at Santa Clara is somewhat reminiscent of another dispute at a Bay Area Jesuit school, the University of San Francisco.

Years ago, USF found itself divided by a controversy surrounding a special undergraduate program operated by the St. Ignatius Institute.

A quarter century ago, the institute, as staffed then, was dominated by professors, some of them Jesuits, who took a decidedly strict and conservative view of important papal teachings and positions.

Not surprisingly, a fissure between the institute and the much more liberal university leadership developed. In the end, the university won out and the institute's outspoken leaders were ousted.

The bitterness engendered by the flap lasted for many years. For some, the wounds have yet to heal completely.

For the record, I was born and raised a Catholic, educated in Catholic schools (including USF) and married in the Church. Having drifted away from the faith through the decades, I no longer practice it on a regular basis but I certainly can respect those who do.

John Horgan's column appears Thursday. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.